Department ofBotany

Biological Conservation Newsletter

No. 176February 1998

Editor: Jane Villa-Lobos

BIOPROSPECTING IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK

Yellowstone National Park is the oldest (dedicated in 1872),
the largest, and the most famous national park in the United
States. The park lies in the heart of the Rocky Mountains and
covers 3,458 sq. miles. Almost all the region is volcanic, with
numerous geysers, hot springs, fumaroles and boiling mudpots. In
1966 Dr. Thomas Brook made a startling discovery while working at
Yellowstone National Park - the existence of previously unknown
life forms living at very high temperatures in the Park's
protected thermal environments.

Research conducted by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space
Administration) scientists at Yellowstone suggests that the
park's thermal environments offer some of the world's best
preserved windows on the origin of life on Earth as well as clues
about the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe. Valuable
applications of research results on microorganisms first
discovered at Yellowstone are contributing to expanding
scientific interest in the park's thermophilic biological
resources. Biotech applications resulting from research involving
Thermus aquaticus (a heat-loving microorganism) have led
medical science to diagnostic tests for HIV while revolutionizing
forensics through DNA fingerprinting. Other valuable applications
have been applied in the manufacture of antibiotics, plastics,
detergents and fermentation products that have generated
significant benefits.

The Yellowstone Thermophiles Conservation Project,
coordinated by the World Foundation for Environment and
Development in cooperation with Yellowstone National Park, the
Yellowstone Park Foundation, and the National Park Foundation,
will explore important biodiversity management practices that can
be adapted to the particular needs and circumstances of other
parks and conservation areas nationwide. The Project will focus
on three core areas of activity intended to generate support for
increased conservation practices at the Park: new microbial
biodiversity conservation activities, scientific research, and
public outreach and education. Project activities will be
designed to: 1)strengthen in situ thermal habitat
conservation efforts as well as ex situ Yellowstone
microbial culture collection, development and maintenance; 2)
encourage scientific research activities to further the
understanding of the origins and patterns of microbial
biodiversity at Yellowstone; and 3) place special emphasis on
improving public awareness and appreciation of the value of
national parks and the biodiversity they protect through
publications, videos, and in-the-field workshops and excursions.

MEDICINAL PLANTS AND LOCAL
COMMUNITIES IN AFRICA

By Ernest Rukangira

In Africa, remedies made from plants and traditional healers
play an important role in the health of millions of people. Local
communities have always used and managed natural biodiversity
resources to meet their needs in health care. In order to
strengthen their activities in this area, it is necessary to
develop, through local community participation, mechanisms and
activities allowing governments to plan and set up appropriate
strategies and policies related to this issue.

The Environment Liaison Centre International (ELCI), an
international non-governmental organization which brings together
more than 900 organizations in more than 100 countries, initiated
a four-year project in 1997 in Africa to encourage the
conservation of biodiversity by helping local communities utilize
their knowledge and practices regarding traditional medicine,
pharmacopoeia and local medicinal plants. Countries in North
Africa, West Africa, Southern Africa and Central Africa were
selected to reflect different characteristics representative of
the ecozones of Africa. The main aim of the project is to launch
investigations among representative local communities on
questions relating to the conservation of biodiversity, trade in
medicinal plants, exchange of information between the local
communities, and rights relating to intellectual property rights
of traditional knowledge on medicinal plants. In the long term,
the project seeks to assist local communities to understand the
necessity of sustainable use of biological resources by
reinforcing indigenous know-how and developing appropriate tools
and methodologies to enable them to benefit from their knowledge
and practices. It also seeks to stimulate the official
recognition of the importance and value of traditional medicine
as practiced within the cultural context of each local community,
to encourage the uses of effective herbal remedies to treat the
most common ailments and to promote the conservation and
sustained use of natural resources stressing the importance of
the intimate relationship between people and the environment.

RAIN FORESTS ON FIRE

In October, 1997 massive fires burned in Brazil and
Southeast Asia destroying the habitats of some of the world's
most diverse animal and plant assemblages. In Southeast Asia,
over two million acres burned, causing a thick, yellow haze that
also risked the health of millions of humans; in Brazil the
number of destructive fires increased by 28% in 1997, causing an
urgent need for international action to conserve the world's
dwindling rain forests.

A recent report, Rain Forests on Fire: Conservation
Consequences published by World Wildlife Fund (WWF),
identifies the major cause of the fires as destructive logging
and clearing and recommends that governments in the affected
regions look at long term solutions to prevent these disasters
from becoming annual events. Fires, destructive logging and
conversion to tree plantations and agriculture have consumed more
than 30% of Asia's forests since 1960-- each year these
activities destroy an additional 14,000 sq. miles of rain
forests, an area roughly the size of Switzerland, in Southeast
Asia. Data from WWF indicate that in Kalimantan and Sumatra
alone, a further 89,000 sq. miles of forests are slated for
future logging and 31,000 for agricultural conversion.

This rapid assessment report recommends four key actions by
governments and the private sector to help prevent future
disasters. They are: 1) banning the use of fire for clearing land
and preventing the conversion of diverse natural forests to
single species plantations; 2) strengthening forest protected
areas to include at least 10% of each forest type in effectively
managed protected areas; 3) scaling back or halting the massive
logging concessions planned for Borneo and the Amazon and Congo
Basins; and 4) encouraging forestry operations to follow strict
environmental and social guidelines such as those set out by the
Forest Stewardship Council.

TREE-TOP WALKWAY IN
BRAZIL

The first rain forest tree-top walkway in Brazil was
constructed in the country's Atlantic Forest as part of a project
designed to stimulate investment in ecotourism. Thanks to a
unique partnership between Conservation International (CI) and
Anheuser-Busch Companies, the 350-foot long walkway, suspended
45-to-65 feet above the forest floor near the Una Biological
Reserve, is scheduled to open in June 1998, giving visitors the
opportunity to view forest wildlife that might never otherwise be
observed. About 320 acres of valuable rain forest habitat
adjacent to the Una Reserve were spared from logging as a result
of this walkway project. A team of rock climbers used bows and
arrows to place support ropes in the towering trees and a master
carpenter from Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis helped design
the walkway structure ensuring that no part of the walkway
requires bolts to the trees.

Isolated from the Amazonian forests to the north and west,
the Atlantic Forest ranks among the top five global biodiversity
hotspots partly due to its high number of endemic (originally
found nowhere else) species, including 6,000 plant species, 199
bird species, 73 mammal species and 260 reptile species. Among
these unique and threatened species are the golden-lion tamarin,
the maned sloth, the thin-spined porcupine and the red-tailed
parrot. Today, the Atlantic Forest is reduced to less than five
percent of its original area.

A recent analysis conducted by CI and its local partner in
Brazil, the Institute for Social and Environmental Studies in
Southern Bahia, revealed an enormous demand among visitors to the
region for forest conservation and ecotourism activities. The
value of a vacation to the region would be halved if the forest
were lost, but would jump by $52 per visitor, or a total of $15
million, if a forest attraction were added. CI constructed a
similar rain forest canopy walkway in Ghana's Kakum National Park
in 1995, which boosted annual visitation to the park from 7,000
to 50,000 visitors in just two years. This project in Brazil is
one example of an alternative to ecologically destructive logging
as recommended by the above WWF assessment.

NEW PUBLICATIONS

The 1998 Conservation Directory, published by the
National Wildlife Federation, is the most comprehensive listing
of 3,000 organizations, agencies, colleges and universities with
conservation programs, and more than 16,500 officials concerned
with environmental conservation, education, and natural resource
use and management. Each entry contains data on: names,
addresses, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and www addresses,
descriptions of program areas, size of membership, and more.

The Cactus and Succulent Plants Action Plan, produced
by members of the Species Survival Commission of the IUCN-The
World Conservation Union, brings together current information,
never before compiled on the population status, threats, and
conservation of this group of important plants from around the
world. From this compilation, priorities for conservation action
are emphasized, providing direction for funding in plant
conservation work. Conservationists, scientists, government
officials, protected area managers, educators, and grant awarding
bodies alike should find this publication helpful in their work
to conserve global and local flora.

The book comprises four chapters and a series of annexes
that provide readers with concise information on the current
status of cactus and succulent populations. The extensive
bibliography provides a comprehensive resource for more
information on this group of plants. The Plan begins with
overviews, written by botanists who specialize in the study of
these particular plant families and the distribution, diversity,
threats and status of eight main taxonomic groups of succulents.
Chapter 2 describes and reviews existing conservation measures
for succulent plants around the world with information on
legislation, controlling the trade, and in situ and ex
situ conservation. Chapter 3 gives regional accounts of major
areas with the highest concentration of threatened plants. The
final chapter of the Plan describes the priority
conservation action proposals, developed by the members of the
SSC Cactus and Succulent Specialist Group, for succulent plants
around the world. Implementing these proposals will save the
maximum diversity of this plant group based on present knowledge.

FUTURE MEETINGS

March 21 - April 1. The Natural Areas Association is
sponsoring its third international workshop for natural areas and
forest management professionals in Brazil. Participants will
visit a variety of protected areas, many in the highly threatened
Atlantic Forest, to learn about local research and management
issues and to share information among participating
conservationists from different countries. The focus will be on
the cooperative role that private and government conservation
plans play in protecting Brazil's biodiversity. The price of the
trip is $1,595 per person, which covers food, lodging, in-country
transportation and guides. For more information and/or to make
reservations, contact: Abigail Rome, 1939 Lamont Street, NW,
Washington, DC 20010; Tel.: (202) 778-9793; E-mail:
abirome@aol.com.

April 24-27. The cooperative Research Centre for Tropical
Rainforest Ecology and Management and the Smithsonian Tropical
Research Institute announce an exciting conference, "Rainforests:
Past and Future", which will be held at James Cook University,
Queensland, Australia. The symposium will bring together
scientists from around the world researching across a range of
disciplines to discuss the understanding of the origin,
maintenance and conservation of tropical forest communities.
Registration is $300. For more information, contact: Kerry Moore,
Conference Organizer, Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical
Rainforest Ecology and Management, P.O. Box 6811, Cairns 4870 QLD
Australia; Tel.: 61 7 40 421254; Fax: 61 7 40 421247; E-mail:
kerry.moore@jcu.edu.au.

INFORMATION HIGHWAY
HI-LITES

The Directory for Medicinal Plant Conservation is now
available on the Internet. The directory includes 139 medicinal
plant projects and institutions, based on more than 80 countries
worldwide, which are characterized by their status, objectives,
activities, geographic interest, databases, publications, funding
resources, and contact address. The searchable database can be
accessed at http://www.dainet.de/genres/mpc-dir. It now forms
part of the German Clearing House Mechanism of the Convention on
Biological Diversity.

EDITOR'S NOTE

Don't forget to respond to the form inserted in the December
1997 issue indicating your decision to either remain on or be
deleted from the mailing list. I encourage as many readers as
possible to view the newsletter on the Botany Homepage, address
given below, to minimize the time and paper that goes into this
effort. Thank you.